Regular Council Meeting
City of Tallulah
February 15, 2023
A regular meeting of the Mayor and City Council was held on Wednesday, February 15, 2023, at 5:30 P.M., in the Council Room Chamber of Tallulah City Hall.
Mayor Charles M. Finlayson called the meeting to order, led the Pledge of Allegiance, and allowed time for silent prayer.
A roll call of Council Members is listed as follows:
Scott (Late Arrival)
Houston Present
Harris Present
Day Present
Wells Present
Mayor Finlayson opened the meeting allowing a time for public comment regarding items on the agenda, but there was none.
Motion and second to approve minutes of the January 26, 2023, meeting were made by Councilmembers Day and Wells respectively and carried unanimously.
John Murray, CPA, CGFM, LaPorte, CPA firm presented the City’s fiscal 2022 Financial and Procedural Audits to the Mayor, Council and citizens of Tallulah. Afterwards, he remained and answered questions from the Council as well as the public.
Procedural policies needing approval from the Council were tabled due to City Attorney David Drought’s review which will warrant corrections regarding some of the policies. Policies under consideration consisted of: Ethics Policy, Information Technology/Business Continuity Policy, Collections Policy, Surety Bond Policy, Grievance Policy and Debt Policy/Management. These policies will be corrected for future approval to fit the policies needed for the City.
Councilmember Day moved for approval of the hiring of Police Officer Courtney James with second from Councilmember Harris which carried unanimously.
Police Chief Buster McCoy requested the replacement of a wrecked police auto involved in a serious accident along with a financial plan for adding new autos to his fleet. Chief McCoy stated that the insurance pay-off on the wrecked car plus the current lease payment for 5 cars will finalize the original auto lease, and the city could then enter another lease/purchase agreement with the same leasing company with the annual lease payments occurring in February for each of five years at which time the City would own the autos.
Motion and second to approve the Chief’s request were made by Councilmembers Day and Harris respectively and a roll call vote is listed as follows:
Scott Yea
Houston Yea
Harris Yea
Day Yea
Wells Yea
Motion carried unanimously.
A brief period of discussion was allowed in which each statement was supposed to be no more than three minutes in length.
There being no further business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned on motion and second of Councilmembers Scott and Houston respectively which carried unanimously.
Attest:
Gerald L. Odom, City Clerk Charles M. Finlayson
